On the diachronic origins of the accentual contrast in Terena (Arawakan)

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents internal and comparative evidence showing that the origin of the accentual contrast of modern Terena, an Arawakan language of southwestern Brazil, is related to a diachronic process of word‐initial vowel loss. Alternations internal to the language involve a relation between vowel‐initial trisyllabic allomorphs and consonant‐initial disyllabic allomorphs, the latter bearing a tonal accent. Comparative evidence from Mojeño, one of Terena’s closest relatives, provides crucial support for the correspondence between word‐initial vowels and an initial tonal accent. A coherent account is proposed, tracing both the loss of initial syllables and the emergence of an accentual contrast to sub‐phonemic patterns enforcing durational unevenness in iambic feet: syllables in foot‐internal, non‐head position were lost, while the previously allophonic lengthening of the head syllable was phonologized, yielding the tonally marked accent.